


[Translation] good night kiss

by lysanding



Series: first sight [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, POV First Person, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28237767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lysanding/pseuds/lysanding
Summary: For Mingyu, it was love at first sight, even if Minghao did not look back.
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Series: first sight [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068518
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	[Translation] good night kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [【奎八】Good night kiss](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25858024) by [whaleonism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whaleonism/pseuds/whaleonism). 



> the events behind [painkiller](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25858024), from Mingyu's perspective. Please read both~

# Good Night’s Kiss

<

If you like someone, how many steps does it take to reach them?

  


<

  


The first time I saw Minghao was at Heathrow Airport.

I was dragging two massive suitcases, embarrassingly waddling because I still had to leave a spare hand for my phone. I needed to figure out where to find the university rep and the campus shuttle. Luckily, spatial awareness was my strength, after a few turns I saw the eye-catching poster with the school symbol, with people seated around it in twos and threes. I sped up, and wondered if I would find other Koreans.

I wasn’t hoping for anything in particular, it was just that deep down, I felt like it would be easier to adjust to life on the other side of the world, if I found someone who spoke the same mother tongue.

And it was at this moment I saw Minghao.

He sat among the rest, but kept a distance to those on his left and right. He had total disregard for his surroundings, eyes focused on the book in his hands. I mean, even when I accidentally knocked a suitcase onto the floor, he didn’t even glance up. It was a little demoralising.

I walked to the row behind him and sat down slightly to the side. Carefully, I peered at the book in his hands, and discovered it was a complicated title that I couldn’t make out. Of course, the _hanja_ classes I took when I was young gave me some clue that it was written in Chinese characters.

So he was Chinese. A part of me was rejoicing that our hometowns were only separated by a thin border, and another part was anguishing over how to start a conversation.

  


<

  


I’ve always thought that ‘love at first sight’ was a vulgar crude and unreliable thing. I never thought that, on the very first day I stepped onto English soil, that reality will crash into me and force me to grow up.

But television dramas are a scam. Minghao was not highlighted from the crowd, bathed in holy light from the heavens. But even from a distance, he was the only one that stood out to me. I relied on my excellent eyesight to pick him out from a couple dozen people, and I scanned past three or four times before locking onto him.

Maybe it’s because he always kept his nose in his book, never showing his face once.

In short, I don’t know what about him attracted me, but during the half-hour wait at the airport, for some unexplainable reason, I couldn’t look away. It made me exceptionally happy when I thought about how we were going to the same school. When I texted my family, I unconsciously added a few emojis.

I was befallen with a crush. It struck me over the head and caught me off guard with its force. I even started fantasising what we would look like, together.

I’m embarrassed. It’s sounds ridiculous to say it out loud.

  


<

  


My second sighting came soon after.

The activities are endless during Freshmen Week. I bet _he_ would at least go to some, so I crammed the two days with events.

Later, my roommate said his first impression of me was a ‘party animal’. When I interrogated him, he confessed that it was Freshmen Week that gave him this impression. I sighed. He misunderstood.

But success rewards hard work. It was in the hall where the free buffet was, when my radar pinged and I locked onto him. He was with a few people, possibly friends or roommates. I took a meal tray and shuffled to the table behind him, food completely forgotten.

He was so cute when he talked, like a cinnamon roll.

I drafted an image of him in my heart, assembling an outline of the person. I think every single one of his attributes was exactly my type.

It should be impossible. It’s only the second time I’ve ever seen him, and I didn’t even know his name yet.

  


<

  


I’ve never seen him once since class started. This could be explained through calculating the probabilities. Two massive campuses, countless dormitories, on top of the chance he may be renting off-campus. If I actually got to see him once a week on the regular, then that would have been a miracle.

I never thought that it was at this moment God decided to help out.

After several snipes and hints from my roommate, I finally promised to go with him for a jog by the beach, to save money from a gym membership. But even so, it’s mainly because there weren’t any gyms near the school, or else I wouldn’t have made this decision.

_Thank God, thank you. Thank you for placing no gyms near the school._

Because on the very first day I ran at the beach, I saw _him_ , sitting on a bench by the sea.

I think I was so surprised I was stunned, turning around several times to confirm that it was him. My roommate couldn’t take it anymore and came to a stop.

“Who is it?”

I was still dazzled and almost blurted out, “I saw the person I like”

_The person I like_

I wanted to fly off the ground and into the sky. It was magical to put this feeling into words. I just placed it on the tip of my tongue, chewed a bit and now my heart was overwhelmed with happiness. I felt like I could jump and end up flipping three and a half times.

  


<

  


Eventually, I figured out that every Wednesday and Friday, he would go to the beach and watch the sunset, hugging in his knees and curling up into a small ball. I couldn’t see his expression, so I didn’t know if he was delighted at the afterglow of dusk or melancholic at the passing of time.

I speculated and speculated upon my speculations until I felt like it consumed me.

Occasionally he would scribble with pen and paper, and I would sneak into his line of sight, pretending to lounge on the beach and wondering if he would draw me into his world.

That would be the dream.

  


  


I finally knew his name.

My eyes could not hide my infatuation. I was running with my roommate one day, and maybe I slowed down too blatantly because he followed my gaze onto the boy at the bench. He cocked his head, faltered for a moment, then blurted out, “I think I know him.”

I was shocked frozen.

“Wait a sec,” he stopped and took out his phone to open SNS. He scrolled for a bit then showed me a photo, “He was in several photos my friend posted. Have a look, it could be him?”

It was. Of course. It’s him. The image hasn’t even sharpened into focus and I could already come to a conclusion.

I pressed him and after much back and forth, I found out his roommate was friends with my roommate. 

I couldn’t laugh or cry. I couldn’t blame him for not telling me earlier. I was just so overjoyed from the coincidence I wanted to hug him immediately.

The person I like. His name is Xu Minghao.

  


<

  


After being found out by my roommate, I didn’t bother keep to myself any more. Every day I whined and spilled my heart out until it pissed him off.

“Get to know him, or stop yapping!” He yelled.

I thought about that. I felt like there was something off about his logic but I blinked twice and decided to take the advice.

But, there was a fundamental difference in the way Europeans and Asians handled their crushes. Europeans good at taking direct shots. Put two strangers in a room for a while they will end up chatting naturally. If you like them, ask for a date. If you don’t, just refuse. 

To be honest, I’m quite envious at how easy it comes to them.

But it doesn’t mean I didn’t want to get to know Xu Minghao. I’m driving myself crazy with want. I want to say hello, I want to hear him call my name with his soft voice, tell him I liked him for a long time, hug him, kiss — do everything lovers do.

But to say these words out loud would turn it into a confession that would be shattered into a mosaic.

Because from Minghao’s perspective, I was just another stranger, someone ordinary he could pass and not look twice at.

I always felt that I was going towards him, step by step. But it actually I was only standing still.

  


<

  


When exams were over, as per usual, my roommate rounded up a band of drinkers. This time the party was held at the home of a classmate I don’t know well. 

This bugged me for half a day. In the past, the pre-drinks were always held in the shared kitchen. There weren’t any problems with that, so I didn’t know why it was suddenly moved. 

My roommate insisted, “No Mingyu, you have to go.” 

“Alright, alright. I’ll go. Let go of my wrist first.”

  


Sure enough as I expected, the house was full of strangers and it left me in an awkward place. My roommate kept coming over to hand me drink after drink, murmuring something I couldn’t pick out. If I didn’t know his limit, I would have thought he was already drunk.

  


I finished another cup of the mixer I made for myself, and was in the middle of considering if I should bail, when the doorbell rang. 

All of a sudden, Xu Minghao appeared in my sight. And then he headed towards me with a slight smile. 

  


  


  


Minghao can finally become my Minghao.

**Author's Note:**

> Translator's notes: I translated _painkiller_ first because of the way GyuHao got together, and even then I thought there was more to it, that something else was going on. And then this came out and I knew I had to translate it to show the other side!! And also because the way OP wrote Mingyu's crush was so preciously endearing. The way it just seizes him until he's embarrassing and irrational and ridiculous haha, definitely true to life. It made me very fond of Mingyu and even more in love with Minghao. Rereading _painkiller_ after this also makes the events there even more delicious. :P


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